Byron - MDMA - Magistrate fires off at the police

[CLICKHEREx]

http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/710020-Byron-MDMA-Magistrate-fires-off-at-the-police

Byron - MDMA - Magistrate fires off at the police

#1 poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact

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Join Date Jul 2005

Posts 7,455 Yesterday 14:13 Byron - MDMA - Magistrate fires off at the police

A MAGISTRATE has had a shot at police for wasting taxpayers' money after he dismissed a charge against a man caught with ecstasy at Splendour in the Grass.

Shane Ellis was spotted by police acting suspiciously when he saw officers and drug detection dogs as he was walked toward the main gate of the music festival at North Byron Parklands on July 27 last year.

Ellis turned and walked in the direction he had come from while trying to remove something from a bag he carried. When police approached Ellis a drug detection dog indicated the Mt Isa man had illegal drugs.

A search of Ellis's bag uncovered five blue ecstasy tablets in a plastic resealable bag hidden inside a sunglasses container.

He was issued with a court attendance notice and entered a guilty plea to possessing a prohibited drug when he appeared at Byron Bay Court on September 19.

When dismissing the charge, Magistrate David Heilpern said "the expense to the public of matters such as this is enormous". He said despite Ellis's guilty plea, the matter had five adjournments in seven months.

"This was five tablets that the police valued at $100," he said.

Mr Heilpern noted Ellis had no prior convictions in NSW or Queensland, and ordered the drugs be destroyed.

http://www.northernstar.com.au/news/...olice/2147530/

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#2 neversickanymore View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact

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Posts 6,505 Yesterday 14:16 Hell yes!!!!!! I hope to god things are changing!!!!!!!! RECOVERY FORUMS ~~~ADDICTION GUIDE~~~ CONTACT ME

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#3 poledriver View Profile View Forum Posts Private Message View Blog Entries View Articles Add as Contact

Bluelighter

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Join Date Jul 2005

Posts 7,455 Yesterday 14:19 Hell yeah, Splinter in the ass (splendour in the grass) is one of our biggest music festivals in Aus, maybe THE biggest one.

I bet the police are gobsmacked over this. 5 pills is def over the personal use limit and could be seen as dealing with the wrong judge I think.

From the drugs misuse and trafficking chart -

Small quantity - 0.25 g (personal use, I think)

Traffickable quantity - 0.75 g (dealing I think)

Commercial quantity - 0.125 kg (larger scale dealing I think)

Large Commercial quantity - 0.5 kg (even larger scale dealing I think)

Chart is here -

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/n...5256/sch1.html

So i'm not sure how much 5 pills weighs, but I'm pretty sure it'd be over 0.25 g's?

Lucky dude.

Edited January 25, 2014 by CLICKHEREx

[Torsten]

I there is no indication of dealing [baggies, money etc] then 5 pills can be claimed as personal when going to a multi-day festival. A good solicitor would easily get any supply charge knocked down in straight forward circumstances. The limits in the schedules are what the default is, but a judge can dismiss supply charges under most conditions if the defence makes clear case against supply [ie onus is on the defence].

This case is very interesting as this is how personal consumption decriminalisation has come about in most other countries. ie not by law, but by police guidelines drawn up as a result of failed convictions.

Then again, there is a hardass magistrate in byron who holds the police & prosecution to the same standards as the defence and as a result regularly lets quite obvious offenders go if he gets pissed off with police incompetence. Not sure if that is the same magistrate, but it sounds like him.

[quarterflesh]

Do they analyze the pills or do they just take it as mdma when going to court?

[folias]

He is a different dude than the hardass dude.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Heilpern

Turns out he wrote this book!

Rough Deal: Your guide to drug laws (with Steven Bolt). Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, 1998 (2nd edition 2006).

[Torsten]

Do they analyze the pills or do they just take it as mdma when going to court?

In NSW if you request it in time then they analyse, but if there is no qualitative analysis then they can proceed on full weight.

In Qld it is always by weight of active only.